Tuesday, August 23, 2022

1:7000 Star Trek TNG Ships

 

Oh man, I have been de-PRESSED lately.  

Maybe it's all the inflation?  Maybe it's all the shrinkflation? Maybe it's the weeks of over 100 degree temperatures?   Maybe it's the paradox that who you love most in the whole world is your wife and children but being with wife and children is such a grind.

It's probably the nicotine with-drawls.  

Let's forget our troubles and talk about fictional starships. I like saying fictional starships because it implies that there are real starships but I'm just talking about the fictional ones.  Like if I said let's talk about fictional WWII aircraft carries.  

There was a lot of public demand for Star Trek in the comments of my previous post...OK only two people but I assume that they spoke for the silent masses.  


But Sir.. This blog usually about historical gaming..
"I SAID MAKE IT SO!"


1:7000 Star Trek


As discussed previously (hit the Star trek label for previous posts) I've been gearing up for some starship flying, shield frying, torpedo torching and phaser...phasering?...  Star trek combat. 
A whole new genre for me, and here are my first attempts at painting star ships...
(be kind, I have a fragile ego and really shouldn't be allowed online without adult supervision)



Saber Class



  I started with the two saber class ships because these were gonna be my testing / practicing miniatures.  Having never painted starships before I didn't know how they would come out.  And only super-cool-die-hard-trek-nerds are even gonna know what a saber class is.  I certainly had never seen, nor heard of one before I started looking closely at star trek ships. But now I am also a super cool star trek nerd and know all about them.  Us Star trek nerds get all the chicks. (I will bet you good money that there are WAY more women at Star Trek conventions than there are at Miniature Wargaming conventions, so whose the bigger nerd?)  





Sabers are small ships in the universe; I think of it as being equivalent
 to a frigate in Sailing ships terms. 


These ships are from Armadillo Miniatures on Shapeways.  2 things: The details on the ship were small, as to be expected as the ships are kinda small.  Even big ships are kinda small at the 1:7000 scale with smaller details, so these shups which are supposed to be small can be excused. 


For a sense of size, here are the ships next to a 25mm round base


But also the details were kinda soft and I swear some disappeared after I primed the model and put the base coat on. Oh well.  At this scale it's more about creating the impression of stuff (like just putting a bit of white where you think a window would look good).

As a bonus because they are small you can paint one up in a night pretty quick  



Excelsior Class



In the Star trek (extremely muddled) timeline the Excelsior class ship is the replacement for the ol' Constitution class ship that Kirk had in the TOS series.  I think this ship shows up around the time of "The Search for Spock."  But the ship class sticks around basically forever and males appearances in ST:TNG and DS9.   Since I'm treating my Star Trek like Sailing ships of the line but in SPAAAACCE (which is fine because ST is basically Hornblower but in SPAAAACCE) I'm gonna see this ship as the 74 gun-3rd rate of Star Trek.  It's the work horse and it's everywhere.  I'll need 10 more.







The Enterprise B was a ship of this class.


Here's that 25mm base again.
What is a base is doing in space, I'll never know.

This ship was also from Armadillo Miniatures as the Saber class above.  The nice thing about the  Armadillo store is that ships are correctly labeled what they are in the fiction which makes them easy to find.


Ambassador Class


I think this ship basically just exists as a stepping stone between the Excelsior class and Galaxy class of TNG.  Someone at the studio said "We need an old Enterprise but not like the movie old, just kinda old, you know what I mean right?  Not like your mom old but her younger sister who is the sassy Aunt and never had kids and took good care of herself.  Like medium old."  

I think this ship showed up in one episode of TNG.  However for gaming purposes the idea of a class of ship that fits in-between the Excelsior and the Galaxy like a 2nd rater is appealing.







The Enterprise C was of this class; for that one episode. 

This miniature is from Halcyon Shipyards and is called the 'SF Diplomatic cruiser.'  You're just supposed to know what it is.    I found the details on it very crisp and solid making it much easier to paint than the ships from Armadillo;  But that might be an unfair comparison though as this ship is larger than the previous ones shown and represents a higher tech level in the ST universe AND is based on a TV show that had a higher budget / better special affects than movies that came out in the 70s and 80s.  



Galaxy Class


Also known as 'My Enterprise' because this is the one from TNG that I can fondly remember watching with my family as a youngish kid.  When I think of Star Trek and Enterprise this is the ship I think of with Picard as the captain.  This one hits the Nostalgia button.  It's also known as the Enterprise D.






This is also from Halcyon Shipyards and is called the "SF exploration cruiser.'  It is expensive at $50 for a little  3" by 3" piece of plastic, those are like GW prices, but it's a freaking awesome model and looks the part even with my terrible paint job.  I figure $50 for the best flagship in the universe wasn't so bad.  Course now I want another one...


Pew pew pew! or whatever sounds phasers make.




Whole fleet


Even though the ships are from 2 different manufactures I think they scale together really well.  It's obvious that the Galaxy is really big and the Saber is small; but both are big and small enough to be miniatures that look cool and fit on a 6x5 table.  They're a;l supposed to be 1:7000 scale but we all know that miniature makers are not too concerned about getting the scale exactly right.  I've also discovered that Starships paint up pretty quickly and are actually kinda easy so even a terrible painter like myself can get decent looking results.  It makes me think that if I put some effort into it I could paint every ship I have rather quickly...






Aren't you a good looking fleet?
But where did the second Saber go?

or I could paint every ship if it weren't for the stupid flights stands....



An Exciting Discussion about Flight Stands.



I've never had to mess around with flight stands before.  I find them frustrating. 
I got my flight stands from Litko as I really couldn't think of anywhere else to get them and Litko always does a nice product.  As the ships all have different shapes and sizes; in order to get them to stay on the flight peg I decided to use my favorite force in nature: magnetism.   The Force of Attraction; and as my own personal magnetism has declined over the years (none of us is as attractive as we used to be) I purchased some Rare Earth magnets (also known as Neodymium magnets).

The idea was simple: 1 magnet goes underneath the ship and the other on top of the flight stand.  Rare Earth Magnets are supposed to be strong so that should stop the ship from spinning 'round right round like a record baby right round right round' on the flight stand.  Another bonus of the ships from Armadillo is that if you get the Attack Wing mounting hole there's an obvious place to put the magnet.


Here's an exciting picture of a Klingon ship with a magnet.
let's just gaze at it for awhile shall we....

Through experimentation (that should read-'through messing up several times and wasting materials with ships toppling over and lots of swearing) I learned that a 3mm (or 1/8 inch) magnet, conveniently the same size as the flight peg, is strong enough to hold ships the size of the Excelsior on down.  Larger ships need a 5mm magnet.  I also learned that if you drop a 3mm magnet on the carpet it is GONE forever.


And you would think that it would be a simple process to get the polarity right.  There was more than a couple of times that when I went to put the ship on the flight stand instead of the satisfying 'click' of the magnets pulling together I felt the force of repulsion.  Like how the wife repels me out of the bedroom when I eat too many beans.

I also discovered, and I should of seen this one coming, that bigger ships need a big heavy base to make them bottom heavy (like most women over 35 and wargamers that I know) to be stable.  


Like so...
Big ol' Klingon ship yet to be painted (or is it just cloaked?)
 needs a big ol' base.
And why are there so many details on the bottom of the ship?
whose gonna see that?


I originally wanted hex bases to match my space mat with hex, but I couldn't figure out how to make the hex heavy enough, so just used a big washer.  Setting phasers to "being nit picky;" I just don't like the look of the hex on the washer.  I also didn't like how the small ships that didn't need a washer had a hex base and the larger ones a circle; because I like consistency.  This needs rethinking and this means starting all over. Spaceships are LAME.

Suggestions are welcome.

Oh there's that other Saber...
When I pulled this miniature off the flight stand to take the picture next to the 25mm round,
the magnet on the bottom on the ship came off and stayed on the magnet on the flight stand.
Another lame complication.

But this pic does provide proof that I did paint the underneath of the all the ships,
not that anyone will ever see it.
except when it's broken.


This Blog is All Paint and No Play



Not true.  Well sometimes true.  But I recently happened to have David over (from the blog Lazgunpacker) for another game of Klingon Armada.  David brought his awesome ships and I contributed with my new space mat with 2" hexes from Cigar Box Battle Mats (as seen in all the photos above) and food in order to not be a total free loader.

I once again took command of the glorious and righteous Federation,
and was provided this BEAST of a ship; the Dreadnaught.  
Which I got destroyed in 4 turns.


That's not bad photography or a lemonade stain,
the mat has a large yellow dust cloud in the middle.


That's a lot of Klingons


The notorious Klingons won this one; though we told my children that it was a tie just so their father could save some face...They're still young enough to think that their dad knows and is good at everything...

Klingon Armada is growing on me more and more.  The mechanics are great; its just the weird Star Trek-ish setting it has that throws me off.  It's kinda cool when your ships launch a bunch of missiles (even though missiles in space is kinda dumb) that slam into the bad guys but it's kinda annoying when they do the same to you....    That and the really ugly Klingon ships.  
David's ships are great looking! I just don't love the design of the D7, (especially when there are 4 of them firing powered up disrupters at close range...) it looks like a snapping turtle with a hat on, and since all Klingon ships look like the D7....


Beam Me Up



Enough of this space nonsense.  The big takeaways from this post is that space ships are cool, flight stands are lame, and I have upped my star trek cred making me legit on the streets on the holodeck.

Till next time.
Thanks for reading.
Double thanks for writing a comment.

48 comments:

  1. Ugh, I totally feel you on the late summer funk. Hopefully it's just that and we will all be struck with inspiration and enough energy to stand and smile soon.

    Studio Bergstrom has some nice minis....I'm not positive on the scaling though. They are cleverly named as 'not' versions of various races. The tipping is probably only a major issue on the biggest heaviest ships, so you wouldn't have to order too many more big bases. It looks like your hex map could accomodate another 1/2 inch easy even if you didn't want too much 'out of hex' overlap.

    An acquaintance runs a youtube channel that does weekly reports on a Federation and Empire campaign they are running. FnE is a hex based strategic game which I think can be used as the basis for smaller (tabletop) battles. It's something that can be played while painting I find...
    https://www.youtube.com/c/NewWorldsST

    Flight bases ARE a total pain in the butt. You could try getting a larger hex base for your larger ships? And shortening the stem? Lower base of gravity....


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    1. Thanks Dave. I’ll check out the YouTube channel. I’m already aware of SB and they do have some nice’ ‘not Trek’ ships but if memory serves they are the wrong scale/ era. Could look again.
      I have many issues but the two that I have for the ships are tipping and consistently across the collection. 😀

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  2. Very nice subtle painting on those ships. They look great on that mat. The Force is strong in you ….. Oh Wait! :-)

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    1. Thanks Norm. And I’ll never give up! Never surrender! 😀

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  3. Metal bases or plastic with weights?

    https://www.brigademodels.co.uk

    Look under accessories ACC-001a

    In UK but there may be US equivalents.I notice you have all the abbreviations down....TNG, TOS ☺
    Neil

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    1. Thanks Neil. I told you that I had street cred so of course I know all the abbreviations. 😀
      The obvious solution staring me in the face are round plastic bases with the same sized washer underneath.

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  4. Have you considered a career in stand-up comedy?

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    1. Jon, please don't encourage him. :P

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    2. No. Because a stand up comedian actually has to Work Hard and I’m too old and educated to change careers. 😀
      Glad you found the post amusing.

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    3. But the internet IS for encouragement!

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  5. I was about to suggest shorter flight stands too.

    Great looking ships though Stew! Liking the teeny tiny windows and lights.

    Makes me want to source some Cardassians or Romulans. Then I re-read how much you spent on that Galaxy class.... oof! No thanks.

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    1. Hi Dai! Welcome back to the internet. Now go see my previous post about reaching 100 figures and bask in my glory!

      Actually Daveb is correct; the links in the post would do have 1:7000 Cardassians and Romulans. The Cs would be responsibly priced as the ships are medium sized but Romulan ships are huge and will be expensive.
      The galaxy was expensive but I figured it was one of a kind. The other ships are all under $20. 😀

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  6. An enjoyable post to read. Basing fictional figures is so much easier than fictional starships.

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    1. Thanks Peter. The first time one tries anything is often the hardest…😀

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  7. Very lovely little ships, they came out looking pretty good! Congrats on jumping into new genres, now you just have to make it over to fantasy ;)

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    1. Thanks Dino. I’m already a sci-fi and fantasy gamer; as long as it’s Star Wars, Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings.
      See the lotr label for some cool fantasy stuff if you like. It’s has been awhile though…😀

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    2. Ah I see that now! Some lovely terrain pieces you have there.

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  8. Another nice post that had me smiling and chuckling at your dry humour, which is very English dare I say! Frankly those ships are too small for my hands and eyes and I'd certainly struggle to match what you have done. At this scale it would help if they over accentuated the detail to help us older painters.

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    1. Thanks Steve. I’ll take having an English sense of humor as a compliment. 😀
      My eyes are bad too and I need a magnifier to do any painting.

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  9. These do look very nice Stew, you are a bit hard in yourself in respect of painting , in my opinion! Re the basing issue, could you put slightly smaller diameter washers ON TOP of the hex base, rather than under it? If the smaller one was not heavy enough, you could have two??? You could even feed them on, like different sized weights on a dumbbell......??

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    1. Thanks Kieth. That’s a decent idea with the washer weight on top of the hex. I shall experiment. 😀

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  10. Very nicely done Stew! Excellent painting.
    Just remember "In space, no one can hear your lasers" 😊 so no pew pews unless you are on the religion deck! (see I can do this funny stuff too. How come I only have 16 followers 😁 )
    I was going to make a joke about the Cardassians and plastic, but too easy.
    Anyway, well done with the ships, pity about the Klingons and better luck next time.

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    1. Thanks Ben. Those are some good jokes. I’m sure you’re followers will climb over time with active blogging and wit like we have. 😀

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  11. Your fleet looks great Stewart, when working in this scale less is more, and I think you got the perfect balance of detail on them. As for the detail on the prints, I hand undercoat, with the colour I want as the base on all 3D prints, as I find primer can fill the shallow detail quickly. As for the base dilemma could you paint a few stars on the exposed washer, helping it blend into the mat, and leave the plain hex in black, then all the hexes will look the same on small and large ships, and the large ships washers fade into the background ?

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    1. Thanks Dave. I do plan to pretty up the bases some with stars (white dots) and I’d like each ship to have a label with its name on it just for extra pizazz. 😀

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  12. I used the rare earth magnet trick when I needed to mount a largish ship on a move stand (on top of a pole contraption with wheels: we actually pushed these along the floor). Instead of putting magnets on both the ship and the stand, I just put a metal plate (using metal wargame stands) on the ship and had rare earth magnets on the ship stand: worked a treat. Polarity not an issue that way. But, I reckon you've got that problem licked, so party on...or would that be "Warp speed!"

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    1. Thanks Ed. I did think of using a metal piece and one magnet but couldn’t really find metal disks small enough. 3mm and 5mm. 5mm is the size of a nail head. Still could be an option if using squares. I’ll think on it. 😀

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  13. Ships look good, hope you get the stands business sorted. $50 for one model? You have got the bug pretty badly!
    By chance, last year's 'Salute' wargaming show here in UK was at the same exhibition centre as a Star Trek convention, and you are right, they have a much more mixed and younger crowd! The young folk looked great in the uniforms (also 'young enough to be your daughter' etc so let's not be going any further with that ). The cafe areas were crowded with Trekkies in uniform, I remember thinking if Star Fleet really existed, this is what their canteen would look like..

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    1. Thanks David. It’s just that 1 ship lol.
      And I knew that the ST convention had more women. But I might be in the same old man boat. 😀

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  14. Those ships look great, I reckon you've done a top job with the shading & the little lights. I'm looking forward to reading some more about the game as you delve into it. I'm very late to Star Trek, as I only really gave it a go when we got Netflix in our house a few years back, but I do love the TOS. Absolutely love those old shows...the models seem to work consistently from the different eras. All the best.

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    1. Thanks Dash. I’m not really a ST super fan or anything. It’s just something that caught my fancy. I like TOS but really it’s TNG that hits my buttons (plus the ships are cooler). 😀

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  15. Great work on the fleet Stew. Litko really are the go-to for so many things, and I'm much happier now that they seem to have sorted more competitive rates to Australia,

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. It’s always a good product but I wonder if I got the right one this time…😀

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  16. As I have already mentioned, lovely ships, and thanks for posting pictures of them so I can oogle them proper like. That Excelsior class is lovely, and it makes a nice bridge from TOS to TNG.

    Flight bases generally are sort of a pain, since there is a small point of contact hovering up a few inches above the actual board. At least in a space or naval game the board is flat! Dealing with moving flight bases over actual terrain sounds like a pain (he says as he eyes the jet bikes on his painting table)

    Trek is just fun, and having fleets to blast each other with is much more fun than wearing the costumes and standing around and talking future politics.

    And at $50 each, you only need to print 5 Galaxy or Negh'var sized ships to pay off a resin printer... then all your little ships are free*!

    *not counting time, cleaning materials, swear jar money, and resin

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    1. Thanks David and thanks for the fun game as well. Trek IS fun. More fun than I thought actually. 😀
      I know you’re trying to get me to get a printer. I really have nowhere to put it not the time to learn and I’d be Leary of a machine that makes more things that I need to paint. 😀

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    2. Yes, a magic machine that makes miniatures for you while you do other boring things like take care of the family, so you always have that little hit of miniatures excitement... that sounds bad.

      And of COURSE I want you to get one... then you can print stuff for me ;)

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    3. Much like a trampoline, the best 3d printer is the one your good friend owns.....

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    4. @David; your tempting temptations fall on a stone heart and an empty wallet.

      @Davidb; that was funny. Lol.

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    5. Sell the other kidney, I'm sure it'll still get you a profit?

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  17. Nice looking spaceships, I've always liked the klingon ships and the clear plastic bases are great!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. It’s more of a running gag now; the old style Klingons are growing on me. 😀

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  18. Awesome. Nicely representative fleet you’ve built. 3D printed ships is clearly the way to go. Glad you found some rules you like, I’ve resorted to a bastardised version of galleys and galleons in the past.

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    1. Thanks JBM. It’s a fun project to have for sure. Need to paint up some Klingons now for battles to take place. 😀

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  19. I didn't understand many of the words and none of the references, but I can still appreciate the little detail that you painted on them space ships. They look excellent.
    I did not realise that space has a honeycomb appearance. Learn somethun' everyday!
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James. Yes we do learn things all the time. Not to worry though, back on historical ground soon. Not that you are worried. 😀

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  20. I'm a very casual Star Trek so I vaguely recognized some of the ships anyway. You're spot on that the ships have soft details but I think you still did a nice job painting them up. You may have to freehand some of the details on some of these ships to make them look good which is excellent practice for your Golden Demon run in 2023. I'll see you at Adepticon and save the silver award for me! ;)

    To be a bit more serious, sorry to hear that things haven't been doing well. I can relate and I hope they get turned around for both of us. With that said, you might not want to offend your core reader base by calling them fat haha! Thankfully, I don't think I am so I wasn't offended but there is a bit of truth in what you say at the same time....

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    1. Thanks Jeff. I wouldn’t worry about anyone being offended; everyone knows not to take me seriously. 😀

      I’m a casual ST fan as wel; though my knowledge jumped up when this project started. One can recognize Federation ships pretty easily; basically anything with a saucer and rocket thingys. 😀

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